Need to confiscate proceeds of trafficking crimes, unconditional assistance to victims, parts of forward-looking update to Action Plan to combat human trafficking

VIENNA, 19 December 2013 – OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, highlighted key aspects of the Addendum to the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings in her address today to the Permanent Council.

Updates to the 2003 document, which were endorsed by the Kyiv Ministerial Council on 6 December 2013, include recommendations on the need to trace, freeze and confiscate proceeds of trafficking crimes and on early and unconditional assistance to victims. They also identify the need to respond to recent developments, such as detecting Internet-facilitated trafficking and preventing trafficking for organ removal.   

“The Addendum places the OSCE at the forefront of international efforts to prevent and combat trafficking in human beings,” Giammarinaro said. “Now, the challenge is to promote its full implementation, which needs to be carried out in the same spirit of innovation, justice and human rights protection, according to the OSCE’s comprehensive concept of security.”

The Special Representative presented to participating States the annual report on the activities of her Office in 2013, which summarizes her four years of service.

In the final year of her mandate, Giammarinaro issued a series of major publications exploring new angles of anti-trafficking action such as the link between trafficking and torture, carried out country visits to Italy, Kazakhstan, Romania and Uzbekistan and continued pioneering work to prevent trafficking for domestic servitude in diplomatic households.

“If I look back to the whole spectrum of activities carried out by my Office, I am pleased to acknowledge that anti-trafficking action has become an area in which the OSCE is internationally recognized for its initiative, expertise, and leadership,” she said. “I built on the legacy of my predecessors’ action, and – I believe - further developed the potential of the Special Representative’s cross-dimensional mandate by constantly trying to foster the OSCE’s proactive role, especially in new areas of research and policy.”